Local soccer club builds alliance with LA Galaxy

Braeden Cloutier coaches the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. Giving younger players access to better coaching is a focus of the partnership between the clubs.ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER

Path to the pros

•Youth players can join West Coast Futbol as early as U-6 and stay with the club up to the U-19 level.

•Tryouts are held for the West Coast FC U-12 Galaxy Alliance team. At the end of the season, top players from the Alliance team could move up to the Galaxy Academy. West Coast Futbol Director Oliver Wyss said he hopes the program will expand to other age levels.

•The Galaxy Academy competes in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy league at the U-18, U-16 and (starting this year) U-14 levels. Academy players have opportunities to train with the Galaxy team or play with the Galaxy Reserves.

•The Galaxy has the option to sign top Academy players to professional contracts through Major League Soccer's Homegrown Player rule. In the last two years the team has signed four Homegrown Players: Jack McBean, Jose Villarreal, Oscar Sorto and Gyasi Zardes.

IRVINE – As the sun sets and generator-powered field lights illuminate a Thursday night at Concordia University, a young group of West Coast Futbol Club players is running through technical drills.

Their practice gear is covered not in their club's name but in the blue and gold logo of the LA Galaxy. These 11- and 12-year-olds aren't international stars or Major League Soccer champions. Rather, they're part of a new partnership that West Coast FC believes can open up more opportunities for Orange County's best players.

The players are members of West Coast Futbol's Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team, part of a new partnership that West Coast officials believe can open up opportunities for Orange County's best soccer players.

Laguna Hills-based West Coast Futbol and Redondo Beach-based South Bay Force make up the LA Galaxy Academy Alliance, a program more than a year in the works, but just now starting to take shape. The two key pieces of the partnership are a Galaxy-funded U-12 team for each club and a shared coaching curriculum.

The West Coast Futbol Alliance team trains twice a week in Orange County and once a week at the Home Depot Center in Carson in a combined session with South Bay Force's Alliance team. They practice and compete in Galaxy jerseys and ideally will feed players up to the U-14, U-16 and U-18 teams that make up the Galaxy Academy proper.

"It's huge," said Dana Keir, who coaches for West Coast Futbol and has a son, Chase, on the U-12 Galaxy Alliance team. "I can see it in my son. He's proud to put on the jersey and be affiliated with a top-notch organization, a professional organization."

The coaching side of the partnership is highlighted by a focus on getting youth players quality instruction as early as possible and developing technical skills at a young age.

Galaxy forward Jack McBean had a different experience. McBean, 18, has started the Galaxy's last two MLS games, but he remembers playing against West Coast Futbol not long ago as a member of Newport Beach-based Slammers Futbol Club.

McBean went from club play to the Galaxy Academy at age 15, and he immediately noticed a difference in the level of coaching.

"Right when I got with Galaxy they had three or four coaches (at each practice)," said McBean, who attended Corona del Mar High. "And it was the first time I ever did (just) forward work in a training session with the defenders doing defensive work and midfielders doing the things they do. It was a big change."

Braeden Cloutier is a former MLS player who coaches the West Coast Galaxy Alliance team. He said the team has received a lot of attention and positive responses from parents.

"Time will tell," said Cloutier, who also coached in the Galaxy Academy. "I think (it will take) a year or two to really see the full effect of what we're trying to do."

Despite the growing focus by MLS teams on developing players through their own academies, they can't match the breadth of the long-established club system. West Coast FC, for example, will run nearly 50 teams this season, made up of boys and girls as young as 5 1/2 years old through high school age players.

The partnership between the Galaxy and the club system allows the organization to tap into Orange County's talent pool at an early stage, West Coast Futbol Director Oliver Wyss said.

"It's truly a win-win for everybody," Wyss said. "That's why we feel so strongly about it, and our membership is very, very excited about it."

Wyss believes one of the partnership's biggest benefits is building a clear system through which athletes may advance.

"We want them to have that dream, but we also know the reality is that it's only a handful of them," Wyss said. "But at least we can say now that pathway is there for those kids to fulfill their dream if they happen to be that special player. And I think that makes this unique."

Braeden Cloutier coaches the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. Giving younger players access to better coaching is a focus of the partnership between the clubs. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Braeden Cloutier coaches as Matt Palos, 11, works on a drill during the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team's recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
The the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team runs through drills at a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. The Galaxy and West Coast Futbol share a coaching curriculum as part of their new partnership. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Braeden Cloutier, a former Major League Soccer player, watches as the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team runs through drills during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Aaron Cervantes, 11, works on a passing drill with his teammates during a recent West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 practice at Concordia University in Irvine. Focus on technical skills at a younger age is part of the clubs' shared coaching curriculum. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Kaleb Greene, 11, works on his control and passing with teammates during a recent West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 practice at Concordia University in Irvine. Focus on technical skills at a younger age is part of the clubs' shared coaching curriculum. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Dana Keir coaches a West Coast Futbol U-6 team as Lance Guerrero, 7, second from left, and his teammates watches his instructions during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Braeden Cloutier coaches the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Dana Keir coaches a West Coast Futbol U-6 team during a recent practice at Concordia University. West Coast Futbol has partnered up with the LA Galaxy to develop players from a younger age. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Thomas Powers, 6, plays with his teammates during a recent West Coast Futbol practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Braeden Cloutier, a former Major League Soccer player, coaches the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER
Former Major League Soccer player Braeden Cloutier demonstrates an exercise as he coaches the the West Coast Futbol Galaxy Academy Alliance U-12 team during a recent practice at Concordia University in Irvine. Access to better coaching and a focus on technical skills are main points of the new partnership between West Coast Futbol and the LA Galaxy. ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE REGISTER

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